The Franklin Flyer

Mark Your Calendars:

February 8: PTA - PTA Meeting @ 7 pm

February 14: Valentine's Day

February 15: Open House 6:00-7:30 PM

February 16: Institute Day - No School

February 19: No School

February 23: PTA - VIP and Me Winter Dance 6-8 PM

March 7: Spring Conferences

March 15: PTA - Donuts with my V.I.P. Spring Edition 8:00 - 8:40 AM

Absences

Please remember to call in or email absences by 8:45 AM. You can call our student absence line (847) 318-4390 (ext 1) is available 24 hours a day, or email Mrs. Linda at lberleth@d64.org.

If the absence is illness related, please also make sure to include Franklin's nurse, Mrs. Queta Karstens, at qkarstens@d64.org.

Franklin Office Hours
School office hours are from 8:00 am - 4:00 pm, Monday through Friday.

School Hours

School Hours (M, T, Th, F): 8:50 am - 3:30 pm

Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Grade Lunch: 11:35 - 12:30

4th and 5th Grade Lunch: 12:05 - 1:00

Wednesday School Hours: 8:50 am - 2:40 pm

Wednesday Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Grade Lunch: 11:05 - 12:00

Wednesday 4th and 5th Grade Lunch: 11:35 - 12:30

Half-Day Kindergarten Hours

Kindergarten Hours (M, T, Th, F): 8:50 am - 11:35 am

Kindergarten Wednesday: 8:50 am - 11:05 am

Please send a change of clothes with your student for all K-5 students. It is helpful to have a change in the event of spilled water, accidents, or an unexpected need for a change in clothes. Student clothes should be labeled with your child's name and can be kept in your child's locker.

If there are any significant changes at home that may impact your student(s) arrival or dismissal or impact your student(s) emotional at school, please reach out to notify Mrs. Williams or your child's teacher to best support your family.

For the health and safety of our students and community, no pets are allowed on school property. We realize the beautiful weather increases the amount of families who are walking. However, we ask that you please leave your dog or cat at home. Properly identified service animals are always permitted.

Please take a moment to review the contacts section of your ParentPortal. Any adult who has approval for after school pick-up or emergency pick-up for illness/injury should be listed. Franklin staff will not release students to adults who are not listed on the ParentPortal.

Chromebooks

As a reminder, each Franklin student will be issued an iPad (grades K-1) or a Chromebook computer (grades 2-5) as part of the District’s one-to-one digital learning program. Students will receive their devices during the first week of school. Your child will also be assigned a Google account to access Google Apps for Education and other digital resources at school and to explore further concepts introduced in class at home. The devices and their applications are technology tools that provide all students access to digital content and higher levels of individualized instruction.

You can find more information about the 1:1 Initiative, Chromebooks, and the other technologies available to our students here.

Drop-off of Student Items/Lunches

If your student forgets something at home, an adult may drop off items at the Franklin front office. Our front office staff will message the classroom for your student to pick up these items during a break in student instruction. The teacher will send the student to the office when it works best in the classroom schedule.

Visiting Franklin

All visitors to Franklin must have a valid state ID or driver’s license. Identification is entered into the Raptor identification system. This process only takes a short time to complete. Once you have clearance, the office staff will print a visitor pass for you and attach it to a lanyard you must wear throughout the building. The office will hold your ID until you return to the office and return the lanyard. We appreciate your support as we proceed with this district-mandated safety procedure for the safety of our students.

Student-Parent Handbook
Franklin Elementary School and all District 64 schools follow policies and practices reviewed and implemented by the District 64 Board of Education. Please review the D64 Student-Parent Handbook before the start of the school year.

You can find frequent updates or snapshots from our days at Franklin on Facebook and Instagram! Follow us at

Facebook: facebook.com/FranklinD64

Instagram: franklin.d64

Gratitude

Thank you to Erin Gilfert, Nicole Giese and Catherine Giannokoulis for planning our Franklin favorite International Night! We are also so grateful to the families who hosted country tables, we had 14 countries represented this year, the most ever.

Valentine’s Day Classroom Parties

Thanks to the parents who have signed up for our classroom parties, you should have received an email with more details. Kindergarten parties will be 9:50 - 10:50 a.m and grades 1-5 parties are 1:30 - 2:30 p.m.

We are still looking for volunteers for the following and you can sign-up in membership tool kit.

Open positions:

Lally: 1

Horwitz: 1

Peconio-Abreu: 1

Pater: 1

Wiese: 1

Thompson: 1

Belmonte: 1

Davis: 1

Biere: 3

Buy your tickets to the 2024 Franklin V.I.P. & Me "Tropical" Winter Dance

Join your Franklin friends for an evening of dancing and fun, including photo booths and light refreshments.

This year’s dance will be held on Friday, Feb. 23, 6-8 PM in the Franklin gym. Our theme is “Tropical Winter” so feel free to have fun with your wardrobe. This is an opportunity to dress in your tropical best - whatever that means to you!

We invite one adult V.I.P. per household and only current Franklin students may attend the event. Students must be accompanied by their adult V.I.P for the duration of the event; this is not a dropoff event.

Ticket sales dates in the PTA Membership Toolkit:

• PTA member families can buy tickets starting Monday, Jan. 15, 2024 at 9:30 AM

• All other Franklin families can buy tickets starting on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024 at 9:30 AM

Space is limited for this event so we suggest you purchase your tickets as early as possible.

Please send questions regarding the dance to idalmy.colucci@gmail.com.

Lights! Camera! Action! Committee Members Needed for Night of the Stars

We need help to plan and produce this fun event that highlights the many talents of our Falcons. If we don’t get a volunteer to produce the main aspects of the show we will unfortunately have to cancel this year.

Please reach out to Camille DeCicco (camille.decicco@gmail.com) if you are interested in helping with any of the following:

• Promotion, communication

• Talent management, rehearsals

• Day of logistics, concessions, decorations

GLAM Club student sign up is open in Membership Toolkit!

Spots are limited - we have 20 spots for 3rd graders and 20 spots for 4th and 5th graders combined. Sessions take place during lunch/recess on Thursdays February 1 - March 21 where students will explore math and numbers in a fun way.

Please contact Brennan Young (youngbrennan12@yahoo.com) if you have questions.

Staff Lunches

The PTA offers teachers and staff members an option to purchase lunch on Mondays from Spuntinos via franklinpta.membershiptoolkit.com. Families are always welcome to show their appreciation for a staff member by purchasing a Monday lunch on their behalf. If this is something your family is interested in doing, please refer to Membership Toolkit for more information.

Questions about teacher and staff lunches can be directed to rebeccavanpoucke@gmail.com.

Capture those Falcon memories!

Please add photos from International Night or Book Club to the yearbook. Easily upload to the TreeRing app or website or email notification.photos.298362828@treeringphotos.com